Coleman, Wooden Spar Over Rock Cats Deal

JENNA CARLESSO, jcarlesso@courant.com

HARTFORD — State Sen. Eric Coleman said Thursday that city leaders should have lined up private investment to help build a $60 million baseball stadium in Hartford before announcing that the project was a "done deal."

Coleman, whose district includes a portion of north Hartford, was responding to city Council President Shawn Wooden's statement a day earlier that he would not approve the ballpark plan unless private funding was included. Mayor Pedro Segarra announced two weeks ago that the city would spend up to $60 million to construct a more than 9,000-seat stadium for the New Britain Rock Cats, a Double A minor league team planning to relocate to Hartford.

Wooden is challenging Coleman for the 2nd District State Senate seat.

"That proposal was so bare and needed so much more analysis and thought and consideration," Coleman said Thursday. "I just don't know what they were thinking holding a press conference on the steps of city hall announcing with great glee and excitement: 'We're going to have a baseball stadium.' Then to follow that up saying this a done deal — that's completely out of touch with the sentiments and the feeling of the residents of the city of Hartford and the region."

Wooden, who appeared at a press conference along with Segarra and Rock Cats Owner Josh Solomon two weeks ago in support of the project, said Wednesday that he would not back the proposal unless it had private funding. The plan still needs the approval of the city council.

Coleman said he believed Wooden's stance was a reaction to some residents' outrage over the project.

"I think congratulations are in order for the many Hartford residents who were outraged or up in arms about what was, until this point, a taxpayer-funded project," he said. "I'm sure their outrage and their actions led to this modulation of Mr. Wooden's support for the stadium."

But Wooden said Thursday that he has expressed from the beginning the importance of getting private funding. He said he shared those views with Segarra and other city administrators a day before the public unveiling of the proposed stadium.

Wooden dismissed the idea that resident backlash or the Senate race had anything to do with his view of the project.

"My view has always been that the City of Hartford taxpayers should not, as a matter of public policy, bear the entire burden of building a stadium," he said. "My view has been consistent on the fact that the City of Hartford should not bond $60 million for this project. My support for the concept hasn't changed. I've been supportive of putting something in downtown north for the past two years. But it can't be a done deal without a thorough council analysis and without public input.

"With all due respect, if Sen. Coleman has solutions for unemployment and the lack of economic development in Hartford, he has had 32 years to present them."

Coleman served as a state representative from 1983 to 1994, and has been serving as a state senator since 1995.

Asked Thursday if the mayor's office agreed that the stadium project should include private investment, Segarra's spokeswoman, Maribel La Luz, said: "Since the announcement, the viability of this area has grown exponentially, which is part of the goal. We have always said that we will explore all options when it comes to funding the project."